Round 13: Wolves beat Catalans and charge up table

Warrington Wolves continued their charge up the engage Super League table as they recorded their fourth straight win by defeating Catalans Dragons 44-16 in the south of France.

Warrington travelled to the Stade Aime Giral in Perpignan on the back of outstanding home wins against Bradford and Leeds and, although they struggled to repeat the form shown in those games, another fine performance from stand-off Lee Briers guided them to victory.

Earlier in the week Briers had again been left out of Brian Noble's Great Britain squad and he responded by kicking eight goals, scoring one try and creating four others, although he was placed on report for a spear tackle on Ian Hindmarsh.

Brent Grose touched down Briers' grubber to open the scoring in the sixth minute.

But Mick Potter's Catalans, who were without Gregory Mounis with a sternum injury, replied as Richie Barnett's slip on the rain-sodden turf opened the door for Justin Murphy to pounce on Julien Rinaldi, with Mick Dobson landing the first of two goals.

Briers' penalty levelled the scores though and the Welshman created a try for Logan Swann before his kick allowed Mike Wainwright to score.

Dragons reduced the deficit to six points a minute before half-time as Jamal Fakir benefited from a ricochet to collect Dobson's grubber.

But Warrington took the game away from the hosts in the second half as Briers landed a penalty and then set up a try for 20-year-old Simon Grix.

After Alex Chan had been sent to the sin-bin for a late tackle on Briers, Ben Westwood then offloaded for Briers to score.

Westwood also set up Paul Wood before grabbing a try of his own after a sweeping move 10 minutes from time before a late Catalans consolation from Murphy.

Catalans Dragons: Frayssinous, Murphy, Wilson, Hughes, Verges, Rudder, Dobson, Fellous, Rinaldi, Guisset, Fakir, Jampy, Hindmarsh. Replacements: Berthezene, Chan, Beattie, Touxagas.

Warrington: Reardon, Fa'afili, M. Gleeson, Grose, Barnett, Briers, Grix, Leikvoll, Clarke, Rauhihi, Wainwright, Swann, Westwood. Replacements: M. Gleeson, Wood, Parker, Lima.

Catalans Dragons: (12) 16. Tries: Murphy 2, Fakir. Goals: Dobson 2.

Warrington: (18) 44. Tries: Grose, Wainwright, Swann, Grix, Briers, Wood, Westwood. Goals: Briers 8.

Referee: R Silverwood (Dewsbury)

Att: 5,877